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China offensive lifts stocks: why investors are buying Samsung and SK hynix despite US risk. October 21, 2026, 10:07 a.m. Of all places, the two memory giants are upgrading their plants in China, even though Washington actually does not want to approve precisely such upgrades. * SK hynix and Samsung are upgrading their NAND plants in China for more modern chips * Chinese rival YMTC has overtaken Samsung in the Chinese NAND market * It remains unclear which equipment US authorities have actually approved SK hynix and Samsung Electronics intend to manufacture more advanced memory chips in their Chinese plants, and on the stock market investors are buying both stocks today: SK hynix stock ultimately gained 6.21 percent in Korea to 1,299,000 won, while Samsung stock meanwhile rose 5.2 percent to 222,500 won. According to a Reuters report citing four insiders, the factories are to produce NAND flash with more than 200 layers in the future and thus catch up with the plants in South Korea. Both companies confirmed to Reuters that upgrades are underway and closely coordinated with Washington, but did not provide details. Samsung plans jump to 286 layers in Xi'an. At Samsung, the focus is on the plant in Xi'an in northwestern China, which according to the insiders accounts for around 40 percent of the company's global NAND production. Until now, chips with around 200 layers have been rolling off the line there. Under the internal project name "Monami", Samsung is converting production to the ninth generation of its V-NAND with 286 layers; by December 2027, production is to rise to 40,000 wafers per month. Samsung itself stresses that the upgrade is in line with US export rules and serves growing demand from global customers, including from the US. Neither is production capacity being expanded, nor are new manufacturing facilities being created. SK hynix aims to raise Dalian to more than 240 layers. SK hynix is pursuing a similar plan in Dalian in northeastern China: instead of the products with 192 layers currently manufactured there, NAND chips with 240 or more layers are to be produced, three insiders report. The South Koreans took over the site in 2021 together with Intel's NAND business. For the division now operating as Solidigm, it is the only production facility. According to one of the insiders, SK hynix is allowed to manufacture chips with up to 240 layers in Dalian. In addition, the company could apply for US approval for development work on chips with more than 300 layers, as a basis for possible manufacturing in the US. SK hynix is already talking with President Trump's government about a new NAND plant there. YMTC pulls ahead in the Chinese market. The pressure to act comes from China itself. According to market researcher Omdia, Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) reached a 38.5 percent share of the Chinese NAND market in the second quarter of 2026, up from 28 percent for the full year 2025. In the same comparison, Samsung slipped from 36 to 33.5 percent, and SK hynix from 20 to 17 percent. YMTC is also catching up technologically: the company mainly manufactures chips with 160 and 232 layers, but already produces small quantities with 294 layers and plans products with more than 300 layers. Outside China, Samsung sells NAND with up to 286 layers, SK hynix with up to 321. The Korean companies' Chinese plants are therefore lagging not only their own home factories but now also the local challenger. Washington remains the bottleneck. Since the US introduced export controls on certain chip equipment in 2022, both companies have had to obtain an annual permit to install US-made machines such as etching systems in China. The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had stated in 2025 that it would approve the continued operation of existing plants, but not capacity expansion and technological upgrading. The agency did not directly address Reuters' questions about the current status and referred to that statement. Reuters was unable to determine the extent to which licenses for the equipment now needed have been granted. This is exactly the sore point: Samsung presents the project as a pure modernization without additional capacity. But a technological upgrade is exactly what the BIS had ruled out. Whether Washington relaxes its line in individual cases or approves only parts of the plans cannot be inferred from public statements. For both stocks, this remains a regulatory risk that cannot be quantified in wafer volumes. A first reliable gauge follows in December 2026: according to the insiders, the new production in Xi'an is then to start with initially 5,000 wafers per month. Whether the schedule holds depends less on the technology than on the licenses from Washington. Evelyn Schmal, finanzen.net editorial team This text is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. finanzen.net GmbH excludes any claims for recourse. Selected leveraged products on Samsung. With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply choose the desired leverage and we will show you suitable open-end products on Samsung. | Name | Leverage | KO | Issuer | | No products with the selected leverage are available for this underlying | Risk notice: On average, 7 out of 10 retail investors suffer losses when trading turbo certificates. Turbo certificates are highly risky products and are not suitable for long-term investment strategies.

SK hynix starts discussing mass production plans for iHBM memory chips that aim to improve heat resistance by 30%, says report. Ramish Zafar - Oct 21, 2026 at 07:04am EDT Korean memory giant SK hynix, which is among the earliest firms to make high-bandwidth memory (HBM), is reportedly consulting supply chain partners for its next-generation HBM memory called iHBM. HBM memory chips stack layers of DRAM on top of each other and a base die, which leads to heat dissipation problems since the heat sink or the liquid cooler sits at the top of the stack. To overcome these limitations, SK hynix has integrated cooling elements directly into the HBM package to improve heat dissipation. SK hynix reportedly enters into discussion with industry partners for iHBM memory chips. HBM chips are manufactured by stacking DRAM modules on top of each other. These layers are stacked on a base die that is connected to the silicon interposer, which allows it to sit side-by-side with the GPU chip. The interposer, in turn, is connected to the package substrate, which is then connected to the printed circuit board responsible for connecting the package to the entire computer. Within the HBM DRAM stack, heat generated by the DRAM layers often has to travel upwards and downwards simultaneously. On top of the package sit the package's heat spreaders and cold plates, while the substrate at the bottom transfers the heat to the system's heatsink. Now, a report from Korean publication ETNews claims that SK hynix has started to make progress with its next-generation iHBM memory chip designs. The details suggest that the memory company is discussing plans for production with domestic and foreign materials and equipment suppliers. Included in the discussions are plans for mass production and applications of iHBM to reduce heat generation in HBM memory. Specifically, the sources quoted outline that the Korean company is interested in mass production and the ability to commercialize the iHBM technology. To overcome the traditional heat dissipation limitations of an HBM stack, where heat is often trapped in the middle of the stack, iHBM will place cooling elements called integrated cooling elements (ICE) in the die-to-die physical layer (D2D PHY) to reduce thermal resistance by as much as 30%. While the firm is currently focused on manufacturing HBM4 memory chips, SK hynix's plans do include using the iHBM technology on the next-generation HBM5 chips. ETNews' sources believe that since SK hynix's Mass Reflow-Molded Underfill (MR-MUF) technology will be used for the iHBM technology, establishing a supply chain should be similar to the existing set of companies. About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage. Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of its news coverage in your feeds.

Wall street gave Micron back its $1 trillion crown just one session later. Micron crossed back into trillion-dollar territory without a single announcement or earnings update, leaving investors to figure out whether the violent swing between sessions reflects something real or just fund positioning that can reverse just as fast. Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) closed at $904.90 on October 19, 2026, up 2.97%, raising its market value back to $1.02 trillion. One session earlier, a 5.63% drop on Friday, October 16 left the stock at $878.84 and the company worth $994.34 billion. That valuation rests on about 1.13 billion shares, so other data providers may land slightly differently. A single trading day now determines whether Micron sits in the trillion-dollar club. Micron's business looked the same on Monday as it did on Friday, and the company made no announcement in between, so shareholders are left to wonder whether this volatility says anything about the earnings behind it. Key data−. Previous Close Market Cap Day's Range 52wk Range Dividend Yield Memory peers moved in lockstep on Monday. The whole memory group rallied together. SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) gained 5.53%, and Korea-listed SK Hynix rose 4.67% to a market cap of $698.97 billion. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) added 1.38% to close at $217.09. That smaller move suggests memory is leading the tech rebound. The closest catalyst came from China. Memory maker CXMT, which has no U.S. listing, forecast a sharp revenue surge in a filing late Friday. That tells you industry demand is still strong, though it says nothing about Micron's own contracts. Hedge fund selling set up the snapback. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) prime brokerage data showed hedge funds cut tech exposure at the fastest pace in at least a decade. Semiconductors took the biggest dollar hit. A bounce after selling that heavy often reflects shifting more than new conviction. Because the same money can leave again, positioning rallies can reverse quickly, and Micron still finished the week down 8.49%. Earnings still point higher despite fears of a cyclical downturn. Free Report, Just Released Why Didn't MU Make The Top 10 List? 24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now. And MU didn't make the cut! The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue reached $54.23 billion, up 379.3%, and non-GAAP EPS of $33.42 beat the $31.35 consensus. Management guided fiscal first-quarter revenue to $61.5 billion. Memory has always been cyclical, and the stock's swings reflect debate over how long pricing strength lasts. Micron says more than 75% of its 2027 output is already committed. That is backed by $32 billion in customer financial commitments, which makes this upcycle more locked in than past ones (we reverse-engineered what the biggest tech winners looked like early and put the pattern in a free playbook here). Micron's 52-week high is $1,255.00, and the October 19 close sits about 28% below it. As recently as October 7, shares closed at $1,088.00. Reclaiming that peak likely requires evidence that pricing holds into 2028, plus an end to fund selling. The pullback also follows a 217.3% year-to-date gain and a 347.65% one-year run. Why Micron's valuation still looks modest. Micron trades at roughly 7x forward earnings, a low multiple for a company with multi-year supply contracts. The trip through one trillion dollars says more about fund positioning than the business, and SanDisk offers memory exposure too, but Micron's locked-in visibility gives it more earnings predictability. The risk is a cyclical turn arriving sooner than management expects. A close back below Friday's $878.84, or fiscal first-quarter revenue below the $61.5 billion guidance midpoint, would mean this view needs revisiting. Got $1,000? Before you buy MU, read this. If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And MU wasn't one of them. They combed the entire market. It's not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it's what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it's free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list ->> Omor Ibne Ehsan Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at 24/7 Wall St. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth, cyclical, and dividend equities that have strong fundamentals, value, and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as penny stocks.